Companies committed to integrating sustainability into product decisions are confronted with the daunting task of assessing hundreds, or even thousands, of materials and goods. The rapid growth of environmental and sustainability assessment principles, tools and approaches has resulted in a lack of clarity on pathways forward for companies. This state of the field highlighted the need to consider the wide range of existing work on integrating environmental and social issues into product decisions as an integrated set.

Through a multi-stakeholder dialogue process, we are working with a range of organizations to propose an integrative systems approach to the problem. Since 2001, The Natural Step has led research efforts focused on developing clear pathways for addressing the ecological and social impacts of products.